Tag Archives: Grand Banks

2012 Grandbanks Rendezvous Message

Season’s Greetings! from the Puget Sound Grand Banks Owners Association

We hope you are all enjoying a joyful winter holiday season, savoring memories of last year’s boating adventures while looking forward to another wonderful cruising season in 2012. In that spirit, the PSGBOA Board of Directors has already begun the planning process for our annual Rendezvous to be held May 10-13, 2012, once again at beautiful Roche Harbor Resort on San Juan Island.

This annual kick-off to the cruising season is a wonderful chance to catch up with old friends and meet new ones, while sharing experiences and expanding our boating knowledge. The weekend will offer a variety of workshops covering topics such as marine weather, using radar, marine engine maintenance, marine electronics, cruising Northwest waters, onboard cooking, and more. Do you have special expertise that you would like to share with the group, or an idea for a speaker? Please do let us know. We love to have members lead sessions when possible! Additional activities will include the annual Coast Guard Auxiliary courtesy boat inspections, sponsor booths, an opportunity to tour participating boats during “Open House”, as well as a return of the ever-popular “Women-on-the-Water” boat-handling training. Check back on our website for updates to our schedule of events and happenings as we get planning the 2012 Rendezvous.

You can also look forward to lots of fun activities and chances to relax with your friends. With many members arriving on Thursday, we are hoping to schedule a few “icebreaker” events for that afternoon/evening this year.  On Friday night, join us on the party barge for the always-popular appetizer potluck and wine tasting. Speaking of food, we are all eager to see what Chef Shaw has in store for our big Saturday night catered dinner, and can’t wait for him to “wow” us with another cooking demo (hopefully outside, weather-permitting!). Since we will be gathering this year on Mother’s Day weekend, we plan to have some special treats for all the moms as well as more fun activities for the kids. As always, the success of this event depends on the efforts of our volunteers, so please let us know if you are interested in helping out on-site or in organizing one of the many activities.  It’s a great way to meet other members!

So, please mark your 2012 calendars to join all of your Grand Banks friends in Roche Harbor this coming May 10-13. If you’ve never attended a Rendezvous, we urge you to find out this year what you’ve been missing! More details will follow after the first of the year, and we will be posting updates on our web site. We also plan to send out an “e-vite” sometime next month in order to get an initial idea of how many members might be planning to attend. Please look for a message from PSGBOA in your email inbox, and help us out by responding as best you can at that early date.

In the meantime, on behalf of everyone on the PSGBOA Board, have a wonderful Holiday and a very Happy New Year!

Sue and Byron Richards, M/V Eagle’s Gig, 2012 PSGBOA Rendezvous Chairs

360-933-4454 or <gb46eg@comcast.net>

A message from the PSGBOA President

Dear Puget Sound Grand Banks Owner’s Association Members;

While we are in the middle of enjoying our holidays please be sure to mark your calendars for the Rendezvous this spring at Roche Harbor.  As in the past,  the Rendezvous will be held May 13, 14 and 15, 2011,  with early registration for those who arrive on Thursday, May 12.  We have already met with the people from Roche Harbor and they have promised us spectacular weather as well as a repeat of the excellent food, service, and fun that we have enjoyed in previous years.

This year’s Rendezvous Chair is Greg Richmond, who served as chair last year and who graciously offered to do so again when Lynn Thompson had to bow out for personal reasons.  Greg did a fabulous job last year and we are looking forward to another great Rendezvous in 2011.  At this early stage we have commitments from Bob Smith to talk about diesel engines; Peggy Hall, the guru of marine sanitation to talk to us about… well… marine sanitation; and Chef Bill Shaw for a cooking demonstration.  In the early planning are Women on the Water training, a wine-tasting/appetizer extravaganza and another spectacular Saturday night dinner.  We’ll keep you posted as plans firm up.

As always we are looking for help this year.  We need volunteers to help with planning, preparation, and execution during the rendezvous.  We also need people who might be interested in serving on the PSGBOA board of directors.  Please let Greg or me know if you are interested in helping out in any way. Greg’s email is  grich737@msn.com

We will be a presence at the January boat show this year thanks to help from Grand Banks Northwest.  Please stop by the Grand Banks Northwest area at the Boats Afloat Show where you can pick up current information about the rendezvous while giving the new 53 Aleutian a look-over.

I know that many of you are busy with holiday activities but I hope that some of you are getting a chance to do some cruising during this cold, but beautiful and un-crowded season.  Even if you aren’t out boating now, it is fun to start thinking about spring and the fun we’ll have seeing all of our boating friends again once the weather improves.   We look forward to seeing you at the boat show and at the Rendezvous.

Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year to all,

Bill Douglass
President, Puget Sound Grand Banks Owner’s Association

Rendezvous 2010 Recap from PSGBOA President – Bill Douglass

Hello everyone.

We just finished enjoying a fabulous rendezvous at Roche Harbor and enjoyed seeing all of you who made it.  Over 80 boats and 200 people spent a relaxed time in the sunshine catching up with old friends and making new ones.  Highlights of the weekend included wine tasting and hors d’oeurves on the dock, a “margaritaville” themed party with whole roasted pig, movie night for the kids (lots of kids this year!), and a cat and dog show (without cats), among many other activities.  We enjoyed great presentations, Grand Banks discussed their plans for the future and asked for our input, and we all had a chance to get acquainted with the new crew at Grand Banks NW.

A couple of things need some follow up:

I want to correct an oversight in that we forgot to thank NW Explorations for providing a boat for the Women on the Water training – they have been very generous in their support of the PSGBOA with boats, money and time over the years.  They are a huge part of our community.  Be sure and thank them when you see them.

I have also included an e-mail from Bill Washburn at Nobletec concerning what is going on at that company.  Many of us use this product and were aware that Boeing (and its subsidiary Jeppesen) had recently sold the company.  In response to what this might mean for GB owner’s Brian Pemberton at NW Explorations called the people at Nobletec to find out.  It turns out that the sale is a good thing for users of Nobletec as the company now has owners who are focused on the boating market – click on this link: Nobeltec memo

As an example of the kind of help that we get through the PSGBOA and the  people at the Rendezvous let me relate the following; I pulled the canvas off of my STIDD seat on the flybridge (a wonderfully comfortable  seat for those of you who haven’t had the experience) only to find that it had deteriorated over the winter.  This was urgent since our boat is in charter service with paying guests on board Monday after the rendezvous.  I mentioned my problem to  Jerry Todd at Grand Banks NW who immediately put me in touch with Fred Minor at STIDD Systems, Inc.  Fred not only addressed my problem by sending me new seat cushions overnight but he covered them under warranty!  That is fabulous service and deserves our attention.

Special thanks for Greg Richmond for doing an outstanding job as Rendezvous Chair this year.  Lynne Thompson will be our Rendezvous Chair for 2011.  She will be communicating with everyone soon.  We have already reserved Roche Harbor for the same weekend in May in 2011 so mark it on your calendars.

Bill

Bill Douglass

President, Puget Sound Grand Banks Owners’ Association

425.503.4748

2010 RENDEZVOUS UPDATE

3/14/2010

Hello to all:

                                                                                                                                                                               
We, your board, hope this letter finds you well and in great spirits for this year’s event. As we draw closer to the summer cruising season and our annual event in Roche Harbor we wanted to let everyone know how things are shaping up. We have a great lineup of activities that have been posted on our new and much improved website. Please check out the website; www.psgbowners.org . There are a number of blogs for all to use. Please post your comments and questions or just ideas to make our cruising family of Grand Banks better informed. 
 
Your board is just about finished finalizing the last few details with Roche Harbor. This event will be great fun and will have something for everyone to enjoy. We will kickoff Friday evening with our pot-luck appetizers and hosted wine bar. Please remember to make enough for ten and also bring an ingredient card for those who may have food allergies.
 
We have brought back our sponsors to this year’s event, they will be; Grand Banks LTD, Native Bright Works, Wells Fargo Insurance, Seaview Boat Yard, NW Explorations, Pacific Power Batteries and American Diesel. During the event we have tried to make time so you will have time to talk with everyone about current projects, problems or just say hello.
 
There has been a slight change up to your PSGBOA Board Roster. Ken Bowles is now your acting Treasurer. Your registration payments can be made out to PSGBOA and sent to:  

Ken Bowles, Treasurer, 2420 Bigelow Ave North, Seattle, WA 98109
There is a registration link on the website that can be printed off, filled out and sent to the above address. Remember there is limited space for Chef William Shaw’s demonstration, so if you are interested in this activity it will be a first to register event. There is only room for 70 participants.
 
I ask you please register as soon as possible, so we have a boat count to give to Roche Harbor. For those that will be joining us by land please contact Roche Harbor and let them know what type of room you would like and don’t forget to tell them your with PSGBOA we have special room rates set up.  
 
Last, but not least, I want to take time out to thank you for this opportunity to head up our board. More importantly, I want to personally thank all the board members for their unselfish help and hard work that they have put forth in all that has been accomplished this year. 
 
Bill Douglass, Past Chairman
Ken Bowles, Past President-Present Treasurer
Lynne Thompson, Secretary
Dominique France
Bill Davis
Scott Blake
David Hansel Grand Banks 
Kim Nance, Webmaster extraordinaire
When you see these individual’s please show them your appreciation for all of their hard work and dedication. We, your board, look forward to seeing you on the docks at Roche Harbor. 
 
Kind Regards, 
 
Greg Richmond
Chair